6. Chapter 6 UUV Integrated Autonomous Missions & Drone Management [Mumm] Student Learning Objectives The student will gain knowledge of the concepts and framework as it relates to the unmanned underwater vehicle (UUV) missions, including military and civilian uses for surveillance and reconnaissance, research, as well as offensive and defensive employment of such technology. The student will be able to: • Understand the historical nature of underwater missions and why UUVs are becoming more important to the military and industrial arena. • Discuss the differences in manned versus unmanned underwater vehicle deployment. • Analyze and differentiate missions that are best suited for UUV missions and which missions might be best served by manned submarines. • Explore the ever-increasing list of sensors and mission packages available for UUVs, which allow UUV deployment envelopes to expand and occupy more of the underwater marketplace. History-What is it, and Why Does it Matter? This chapter explores the differences and similarities of how manned and unmanned underwater vehicle technology is employed for different mission sets and some of the challenges the industry faces as UUVs become the norm, and manned submarines become more focused on specialized missions, as well as tasking and 144 | Chapter 6 UUV Integrated Autonomous Missions & Drone integrating UUVs into existing manned architecture. UUVs come in all shapes and sizes, starting from about a meter in length going up to what is now known as an “Extra Large Unmanned Undersea Vehicle” (XLUUV). The wide variety of sizes and shapes of UUVs offers mission flexibility in an arena that is at its infancy stage. The mysteries of the seas fascinate humankind. The vastness of the seas with all of its wonders spawned ancient Greek religion to believe in Poseidon; known as the “king of the seas…lord of the sea-gods, as he dwelt in a golden palace on the sea bed with his queen Amphitrite and son Triton” (Sea Gods, 2017). For centuries sailors prayed to “Amphitrite, goddess who spawned the sea’s rich bounty–fish and shellfish–as well as dolphins, seals, and whales” (Sea Gods, 2017). Sailors also prayed to these deities for a safe journey and a bountiful catch. Humankind’s desire to learn, conquer, and use the sea for its betterment creates the need for technologies and techniques to allow humans to obtain their goals. As early as 1578, an “English mathematician and royal navy gunner published a book that described his idea for engineering a submarine” (Joanne, 2019). In 1620 the first working submarine known as the Drebbel was invented by Cornelis Drebbel and was propelled by oars that were under the vehicle. By “1623, Drebbel’s watercraft carried 16 passengers under the River Thames in London…staying underwater for about three hours” (Joanne, 2019). Forty years later, the first submarine with an engine was created known as the Diver. This submarine engine used compressed air. The air was forced from a tank into a cylinder, and this air movement pushed a piston that turned the propeller. John Philip Holland improved the design and “engineered a submarine that used battery power…batteries created electricity-powered a motor to turn the propeller” (Joanne, 2019). Submarine inventors took great risks even with their own lives as they worked to perfect the ability to survive underwater for longer time frames. In 1850 “Wilhelm Bauer built his first submarine… but only narrowly escaped with his life after it sank in 50 feet of water during a demonstration” (Andrews, 2018).Wilhelm Bauer would be Chapter 6 UUV Integrated Autonomous Missions & Drone Management [Mumm] | 145 undeterred by this setback as he received financial backing from the Russian government and went on construct the “Sea Devil.” The Sea Devil made more than one hundred and thirty successful dives and “boasted several technological breakthroughs including multiple ballast tanks for added buoyancy, a crude airlock and a propeller that was powered by crewmen operating an internal treadmill” (Andrews, 2018). Early American Submarine Usage For almost two hundred and fifty years, submarines have been used as a wartime vessel. The first attempt to use submarines as an attack vessel was during the American Revolutionary War; and on “September 6, 1776, an American named Sergeant Lee tried to attack a British ship using the Turtle. Lee drilled a hole in the ship, but he ran out of air before he could attach the mine” (Joanne, 2019). In 1863, a privately funded venture in Mobile, Alabama, using a recycled iron steam boiler ushered in the first successful primitive attack submarine known as the H.L. Hunley. This attack submarine offered new naval tactics to be introduced during the US Civil War. Breaking the stronghold of the Union naval blockades allowed the Confederacy to move supplies and keep the Union naval ships at risk. The Hunley was known as the “peripatetic coffin”—and for good reason. It sank on two occasions during its trial runs, killing a total of 13 crewmen including its namesake, marine engineer Horace Lawson Hunley” (Andrews, 2018). Commissioned on October 12, 1900, the USS Holland became the first US Navy submarine. Although the USS Holland was never employed in combat, “The ship’s armaments consisted of a single torpedo tube and pneumatic cannon known as a “dynamite gun.” It was powered by a 4-cylinder gasoline engine for surface travel, but also included a 160-horsepower electric motor to move underwater” (Andrews, 2018). World War I saw the introduction of the German U-boats, better known as “undersea boats.” Built on production lines to allow for economies of scale and training of its crew, the U-boats were 146 | Chapter 6 UUV Integrated Autonomous Missions & Drone Management [Mumm] introduced into the German fleet to attack enemy military ships. Later, the U-boats were used to “attack merchant ships and passenger liners. In just one day in September 1914, a German U- boat sank three British ships. Between February and April 1917, U- boats sank more than 500 merchant ships” (Joanne, 2019). New technologies such as sonar and radar allowed submarines to take an important leap forward in their importance in contributing to military successes. Submarines became a key component to WWII as “Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan were major sea powers during World War II by adding submarines to their surface fleets. That combination remains the key to sea power today” (Wilson, 2019) Submarines were used in the Gulf War (1990-1991) to launch land- attack missiles, and submarines are currently used in the ongoing War on Terror. The ability to be stealth and persistent allows mission planners flexibility in employment, and UUVs will broaden this flexibility envelope in future years. Submarines and UUVs continue to illustrate their importance to the world although “it is only in the last thirty years that progress in propulsion; control, hydrodynamics, and sensor technology have enabled the development of more broadly capable vehicles and free the imaginations of naval planner to propose new and innovative operational applications for them” (Whitman, 2002). The ability to remove the human from a submarine and allow the vehicle to be remotely operated by wire and later fully autonomously is still in a formative stage, as illustrated in Table 1; however, the capability increase is being heavily funded and is moving quickly to the forefront of the UUV arena. Table 6.1: The Evolution of UUVs and Their Capabilities Chapter 6 UUV Integrated Autonomous Missions & Drone Management [Mumm] | 147 Source: (Petillot, 2019) In the modern-day US Navy, it has taken nearly three decades of development and experimentation in the unmanned systems arena; however, “unmanned underwater vehicles are close to joining the fleet in meaningful numbers and substantive roles…UUVs are rapidly gathering momentum and critical mass of supporters” (Whitman, 2002). Submarine and UUV Current Military Missions The primary roles and missions for the U.S. submarine force are peacetime engagement, surveillance and intelligence, special operations, precision strike, battlegroup operations, and sea denial using naval or port blockades. Keeping in mind that in the current global security environment, naval forces have an ideal disruptive technology in UUVs that offers “many challenges both in the form of asymmetric threats and confrontations between peers” (Newswire, 2018) while allowing human assets to stay out of harm’s way. UUVs will have “initial emphasis on minefield reconnaissance, intelligence collection, trailing, tagging, deception, and attack capabilities are potential future options” (Whitman, 2002). These UUV capabilities will include a range of command and control options including creating 148 | Chapter 6 UUV Integrated Autonomous Missions & Drone Management [Mumm] an optionally piloted submarine with the on the fly ability to transition to near-total autonomy or full autonomy. The US Navy published The Navy Unmanned Undersea Vehicle (UUV) Master Plan in 2004 and then updated the plan in a February 18, 2016, Congressional report “using Sea Power 21 for guidance, nine Sub-Pillar capabilities were identified and prioritized: 1. Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance 2. Mine Countermeasures 3. Anti-Submarine Warfare 4. Inspection / Identification 5. Oceanography 6. Communication / Navigation Network Node 7. Payload Delivery 8. Information Operations 9. Time Critical Strike” (The Navy Unmanned Undersea Vehicle (UUV) . See Figure 6.1, US Navy UUV Systems